Generosity

Hey all, going to share a bit about what happened on sunday and give a recap on what we did. I'll post about our 'gifts' we want and what we did soon and here's the story i read out at the end if you're interested to read it again.


THE BRICK

A young and very successful executive named traveling down a street in his BMW down the streets of KL. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no child darted out, but a brick sailed out and - WHUMP! - it smashed Into the BMW's shiny black side door! SCREECH..!!!! Brakes slammed! Gears ground into reverse, and tires madly spun the car back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown. He jumped out of the car, grabbed the kid and pushed him up against a parked car. He shouted at the kid, "What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing?!" Building up a head of steam, he went on. "That's my new BMW, that brick you threw is gonna cost you a lot of money. Why did you throw it?"
"Please, mister, please. . . I'm sorry! I didn't know what else to do!" Pleaded the youngster. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop!" Tears were dripping down the boy's chin as he pointed around the parked car. "It's my brother, mister," he said. "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up." Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me."
Moved beyond words, the young executive tried desperately to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be OK. He then watched the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long walk back to car -a long and slow walk. He never did fix the side door and kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him to get his attention. . . Some bricks are softer than others. Feel for the bricks of life coming at to you. For all the negative things we have to say to ourselves, God has positive answers.

(adapted from a story on generosity)

Psalm 23.

(taken from an e-mail) ^^

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Psalm 23 ( King James Version )

LORD Is My Shepherd
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This is an eye opener
You probably never thought nor looked at this Psalm in this way
even though many among us may have said it over and over again

The Lord is my shepherd
That's relationship

I shall not want
That's supply

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures
That's rest

He leadeth me beside the still waters
That's refreshment

He restoreth my soul
That's healing

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
That's guidance

For His name sake
That's purpose

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
That's testing

I will fear no evil
That's protection

For thou art with me
That's faithfulness

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me
That's discipline

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies
That's hope

Thou anointest my head with oil
That's consecration

My cup runneth over
That's abundance


Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
That's blessing

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
That's security

Forever
That's eternity


What is most valuable is not what we have in our lives,
but WHO we have in our lives.

letters and sweet fragrance

was doing my morning quiet time when i came across this passage which really struck me. [lolx.. to wait till the next snippets of life to share it is too long, so yea here it is]

2 Corinthians 3:1-3
-are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

our lives are to be like letters from God whereby everyone can read and understand. God's life is to be inscripted in our very lives so that His very life and His very nature can be imparted to everyone through us, His ultimate instruments.

Is our lives like letters today; letters which are easy to read and understand? or is it so complicated that no one can seem to comprehend?
Is God having alot of difficulty portraying His Life through us? if so, how can He ever use us?

He can only use us until and unless our lives is one with His, when our lives no longer contradicts His nature but in order to live our lives like that in such a total alignment with His, we have to so surrender our lives to God, to allow Him to come and do as He please.

whatever that is preventing us from coming closer to Him, He will tear down, smite it and destroy it, no matter how precious it is to us and how it will crush us when it is gone. whatever that is building our relationship with Him, He will keep it, perserve it and mantain it no matter how much it pains us and even if we hate it.

but this process takes a serious long time. it might take an entire lifetime for God to achieve somthing so great in our lives. so are we willing to let go and let God have His way or are we gonna just keep struggling with Him? the more we struggle, argue and fight God, the longer it's gonna take.

now you know why God takes a serious long time to change a man's heart? why He had to allow His very chosen people to walked in the wilderness for 40 years? it took God 40 years to change the hearts of His people, to soften their hearts but even so, ONLY TWO out of so many were totally transformed [Caleb and Joshua].

if we actually move back a little to 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, we find that it is talking about the same thing but only in a different manner.

2 Corinthians 2:14-16
...and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.

we very well know that we can't run away from smell. there's always a process called diffusion when smell is involved. we can't run away from the smell from perfume or from a rotten egg. everyone will know if someone is using perfume. smell can be easily distinguished.

so now i ask again, is our lives like sweet aroma to God? or do our lives stinks? can everyone smell the sweet fragrance of Christ in us? or do they run away from us everytime we get near beacuse there is absolutely no aroma of Christ in us, only a really horrible rotten smell?

how are we representing Christ our ever living God today? how are we reflecting His image and nature? are people reading and smelling Christ in us? are they coming into a knowledge of Christ through us?

here is the test to see whether we are representing God accurately....

know that good and bad can never go together. holy and unholy cannot be mixed. so everytime after we mingle with people, are they convicted of their sins even when no one mention it to them? do people feel uncomfortable being with us because everytime when they are near us, they can't hide, they are stripped down to bare nakedness, all their sins are exposed without us even realising it? we don't have to point out their sins, just by being there and mixing with them, they feel exposed, they can never remain the same after talking to us.

something had happened in their Spirit.

when is the last time someone feels uneasy around you and never wants to be near you? Is our God living in us that real to a point where people around us who are living in sin feels uncomfortable everytime we get near or talk to them about random stuff because the Life of God in us is constantly exposing all of their sins?

or is our God who dwells in us so dead and powerless that even the worst of people who talks to us don't feel His utmost awemose power convicting them of sin?

Our Lord Jesus Christ caused many people to repent and be convicted of their sinful nature just by being with people because of the Life of the Father that is in Him. Jesus constantly portrays the very nature of God with utmost accuracy every moment of His life.

it's never easy living like that. it takes a long process to achieve this state but are we willing? are we ready to go through all that God has installed for us just so that His Life can be shown on our faces?

We have to let go of EVERY SINGLE thing and yeild 100% to Him not 99%. We need to come back to that correct alignment with His and make our lives right before Him. We can't do this on our own but God can bring us to that level with His strength and grace and mercy. He can work miracles in our lives. He can make our paths straight again only and only if we are willing and desperate enough...